Once Upon a Time

A-time, a-once upon a time, a-once upon a time...

No, folks, I'm not going mad (well, maybe I am, but this once upon a time stuff isn't the clue).

Today I get to work with my year 11s all day. This is great because:

1. The stuff they are learning is high-level music theory and therefore interesting to teach.

2. There's only 5 of 'em.

3. They're great kids. The best St. Peter's has to offer.

Anyway, we're covering information from Area of Study 2, which is basically Twentieth Century Music. We just covered experimental music, and one of the listening samples was a John Cage piece that uses spoken words and vocal inflections. It starts off with the above-quoted bit.

Normally I discourage the students from laughing at the stuff we're listening to, but this was so funny...

I've never fully appreciated Twentieth Century music. It is so...wierd. I have a hard enough time swallowing the accompanying art of the period.

We also learned about another John Cage piece called 3' 44". I remember learning about this complicated piece when I took Twentieth Century Music with Dr. Burnham at Chico State.

It is ever so complicated because it can be played by any number of musicians, on any combination of instruments.

It is 3 minutes, 44 seconds of complete silence.

Now, this is stretching things for me...because the most basic definition of music is organized sound. Silence, of course, is the opposite of sound. Therefore, 3 minutes and 44 seconds of silence cannot possibly be music! Right?

Well, I would want my money back anyway.

That said, I must sign off. It's breaktime and I need to use the ladies before the bell rings and I'm off to the music room again.

Cheers,

Meg

P.S. I invite your views on whether you think 3'44" is music or not.